'We're fighting coronavirus in the dark'

South Africa has carried out the most tests and has the highest number of cases on the continent

Coronavirus cases could be much higher in Africa than the official data suggests, according to the International Rescue Committee (IRC), a leading global humanitarian relief organisation.

The IRC says testing shortfalls and poor access to data mean that “we are fighting this disease in the dark.”

“Testing rates fall far below World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines,” it says of the 20 African countries where it operates.

It points out that confirmed cases doubled in July across Africa, and says it’s worried “this could be the tip of the iceberg”.

The continent currently has more than 890,000 confirmed cases, according to the WHO.

It agrees that because testing rates are lower, some cases and deaths may have been missed.

However, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s Africa director, has said she doesn’t believe there is a huge silent, pandemic killing people.

According to the African Centres for Disease Control, about 8.3 million people have been tested out of the continent’s total population of 1.3 billion.

You can read more about how the virus is spreading in Africa from our Reality Check team.